Beyoncé and Elton John Might Team Up for a New ‘Lion King’ Song

There are plenty of reasons to be excited for Disney’s live-action remake of The Lion King — not the least of which is the involvement of Beyoncé, who will lend her vocal talents to the role of Nala. But Elton John is hoping she’ll also lend those skills to a new original song that he’s cooking up for the film. I mean, how do you land Queen Bey and not have her sing something?

As fans of Disney’s classic animated film are aware, Nala doesn’t actually participate in the musical side of things, so we’ll be getting Beyoncé the actress instead of Beyoncé the pop icon. However, speaking with The Sun, Elton John says he’s hoping to collaborate with her on a new, original end-credits song for The Lion King:

They need to have a new end credits song.

There’s going to be four of our songs in the film, from the original: Can You Feel The Love Tonight? Hakuna Matata, I Just Can’t Wait To Be King and Circle of Life.

And then there will be an end, closing song, and we’ve been speaking to Beyonce’s people and hopefully Tim [Rice] and I and her can cook up something.

John is returning to work with Tim Rice on the remake, which — as he explains above — will feature four of their original tracks from the 1994 animated film. Jon Favreau is directing the reimagining, and like his version of The Jungle Book, this one will combine live-action and CGI to create the world of Simba & Co. Although it doesn’t hit theaters until 2019, John reveals that he’s seen “a little bit of the opening” of the film. And? He says “it’s amazing.”

The Lion King boasts an all-star voice cast that includes Donald Glover as Simba, Chiwetel Ejiofor as the villainous Scar, Alfre Woodard as Sarabi (Simba’s mom), Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa (respectively), along with Keegan-Michael Key, Florence Kasumba, Eric Andre and John Oliver. John Kani will reprise his role as Rafiki, along with the great James Earl Jones as Mufasa.